Distribution actuelle du Chimpanzé et du Babouin au Sénégal

Our cousins chimpanzees and baboons face global
warming by digging wells to filtrate drinking water
G. Galat, A. Galat-Luong, G. Nizinski
IRD UR 60 CLIFA. BP 64501. 34394 Montpellier cedex. France.
Tel 33467636961. Fax 33467412138.
[email protected]
Key words
Increasing dryness, Drinking water, Filtrated water, Wildlife, Chimpanzees, Baboons
Introduction.
Surface water is an essential source of life for mammals and higher vertebrates. Global
warming and dryness restrict available water resources. In the African Sudanese climate, an
annual rainfall deficit period, up to 350mm, began in the 1970’ (Le Borgne, 1990; Michel,
1990; Lawson, 2005).
Objective.
How do Chimpanzees and other non human primates living in dry habitats face increasing
dryness as water pools dry at the end of the dry season?
Methods.
Study site
The study area was the Tambacounda region, Eastern Senegal, including two main study
sites, the Niokolo Koba National Park, with, outside of the Park, the Kédougou Department. It
is the driest and the hottest long term chimpanzee study site.
The Niokolo Koba National Park is a protected area since 1954, now an UNESCO Mab
Reserve. It covers 8,175 km2 and is located by 12°40' at 13°20' N and by 12°30' at 13°20' W.
The landscape includes three types of geomorphologic units: plateaus (which represent the
dominant geomorphologic unit with 80 % of surface area), valleys and hills.
The climate of the region is dry tropical with mean annual rainfall of 1,076 mm year-1 (Pi).
The rainy season starts in May and ends in September; the mean annual potential
evapotranspiration (Penman, 1948) is 2,114 mm year-1 (Ep=5.2 mm day-1), mean annual daily
total radiation is 20.4 MJ day-1, mean daily insulation is 7.9 hours, mean air temperature is
28.6 °C (Tmax=35.2 °C, Tmin=21.9 °C), air humidity is 56.3 % and wind speed is 122.3 km
day-1 (the long-term values estimated over the period of 1940-1998 and of 1989-1998 come
from meteorological stations of Kédougou; 12°34' N; 12°13' W; and of Tambacounda, 13°46'
N; 13°41' W) (www.fao.org/landwater/aglw/climat.stn). The highest place inside the
Niokolo Koba National Park is Mount Assirick. Rainfall deficit over the recent years is
increasing (Fig.1).
Year
0
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
-200
-400
-600
-800
mm
Linéaire (mm)
-1000
-1200
-1400
-1600
y = -161,26x - 234,49
R2 = 0,9686
-1800
Figure 1. Cumulative rainfall deficit 1990-1998.
Data of the meteorological stations of Kédougou and Tambacounda.
The vegetation is the results of human (fires) and natural intervention (animal grazing). This
action of man and animal grazing influenced more the aspect than the floristic composition of
savannah (Schnell, 1977): from North to South, the tree canopy cover increases. The rivers
are bordered by closed-canopy gallery forests and temporarily flooded savannah with a
natural tendency to encroachment (an increase in density of woody plants often unpalatable to
animals) becoming frequently visible.
The vegetation accounts for the transition between the bioclimatic zones distinguished by
Trochain (1940) according to the annual rainfall (1931-1960) updates by Giffard (1974):
Sudano-Sahelian (550-1000 mm of annual rainfall) in the North and Sudano-Guinean (9501350 mm) in the South. A continuous herbaceous layer is strewn with trees and shrubs, with a
vertical tree canopy projection onto the 1 ha soil surface ranging from 5 to 75 %. Le Houérou
(1989) distinguished four types of savannah according to tree canopy cover: (1) « wooded
savannah » with less than 5 percent of tree canopy cover; predominant woody species are
Combretum glutinosum and Combretum nigricans; dominant herbaceous layer species are
Andopogon pseudapricinus, Hyperthelia dissoluta and Schizachyrium sanguineum; (2)
« wooded savannah » ranging from 5 to 25 percent of tree canopy cover; predominant woody
species are Afzelia africana et Pterocarpus erinaceus; dominant herbaceous layer species are
Diheteropogon amplectens, Antropogon pseudapricus and Diheteropogon hagerupii; (3)
« wooded savannah » ranging from 25 to 50 percent of tree canopy cover; predominant
woody species are Pterocarpus erinaceus, Terminalia macroptera, Erythrophleum africanum,
Bombax costatum, Lanea acida, Combretum glutinosum and Hexalobus monopetalus;
dominant herbaceous layer species belong to Antropogon and Pennisetum gender; (4) « sparse
woodland » with more than 75 percent of tree canopy cover; predominant woody species are
Pterocarpus erinaceus, Piliostigma thonningii and Anogeissus leiocarpus; dominant
herbaceous layer species belong to Andropogon, Pennisetum and Hyparrhenia gender.
Behavioural observations.
The chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) of the Assirick site, the Niokolo Koba National
Park and the Kedougou department have been studied since 1975:
- In 1975 and 1976 by G. Galat and A. Galat-Luong;
- From 1976 to 1979 by the Stirling African Primate Project, SAPP (McGrew, Baldwin,
Tutin, 1981);
- From 1988 to 2002 again by A. Galat-Luong and G. Galat;
- and since 2000 by the Miami Assirik Pan Project, MAPP (Pruetz, Marchant, Arno et al.,
2002).
Total duration of chimpanzee observation in South Eastern Senegal is now 39 years.
In 1975 and 1976, and from 1988 to 1999, we followed groups of chimpanzees and baboons
living inside and outside the Niokolo Koba national Park in the Kedougou department,
Senegal, and recorded water related behaviours and indices.
Biochemicals.
Additionally, comparative blind tests of water samples drink ability were made by an
independent ratified laboratory.
Results.
The first time we saw non human primates digging holes and drink the filtrated water they get
inside these wells was in 1988, while observing baboons resting and socializing on a sand
beach of the Gambia River near the Kédougou cliffs. It is the only one record of this
behaviour we made during the 1975-1994 surveys. As the river’s water was gently flowing,
unfiltered water was not putrid.
In contrast with the 1975-1994 surveys, those carried in the 1995-1999 period revealed that
chimpanzees and baboons frequently dig wells in river basins during the dry season. We
recorded Chimpanzee digged wells inside the Niokolo Koba National Park, near the Assirick
river, and outside the Park, in the Fongolembi arrondissement of the Kédougou department.
The distance of the most distant chimpanzee wells sites is c.a. 100 km. We found the wells
digged by baboons only in the Mansa Fara – Assirick Area, inside the Niokolo Koba National
Park. The distance of the most distant baboon wells sites is about 20 km.
The wells are hand dug holes localized in fine sand zones less than 2m far from stagnant
water puddles (figure 2). The water in the wells is therefore filtrated by the surrounding sand
(figure 3). Indices of animals access to water were only found around the wells dug in the
sand, not near the stagnant water puddles. The water of the wells was clear and limpid,
contrasting with the stagnant water of the natural puddles. Some wells dug by chimpanzees
were dug with wood sticks used as “tools” (figure 4).
Figure 2. Wells hand digged in the sand near stagnant water.
Photos © Anh Galat-Luong IRD.
Figure 3. Filtrated water in wells hand digged in the sand.
Photos © Anh Galat-Luong IRD.
Figure 4. Wells digged in the sand using a wood stick tool.
Photos © Anh Galat-Luong IRD.
Results of comparative bacteriological analyses show that:
1) concentration of bacteria is 10 times less in the wells filtrated water than in the natural
puddle water;
2) pathogenic germs characteristic of stagnant putrid water (Escherichia coli, Aeromonas
hydrophila) and frequently recognized as pathogenic for Primates (Daszak and Cunningham,
Hyatt, 2001; Dobson and Foufopoulos, 2001; Chapman, Gillespie, and Goldberg, 2005; table
I) were present in the natural puddle water and made water unsuitable for consumption. These
germs were absent in the wells.
3) the water of the wells contained, at a much lower concentration, only pathogenic germs
(Klebsiella oxytoca, Enterobacter cloacae) typical of mammal species which came to drink
there, indicating that the chimpanzees did not wash their hands before digging and drinking,
and therefore have contaminated the water with their own germs (Table I).
4) none among the following bacterial or water-mediated parasites: Mycobacterium
tuberculosis, Mycobacterium leprae, Shigella sp., Campylobacter sp., and Salmonella sp.,
Entamoeba histolytica, Balantidium coli, Iodamoeba butschlii, Dracunculiasis and
Schistosomiasis trichomonads, strongylates, ascaroids and threadworms known to be
transmitted zoonotically in the wild (Michel and Huchzermeyer, 1998; Wolfe, Escalante,
Karesh et al., 1998; Wallis, 2000; Rojas-Espinosa and Lovik, 2001; Nizeyi, Innocent, Erume
et al., 2001; Lilly, Mehlman and Doran, 2002) have been found.
Thus, due to these wells dug in the sand near putrid water, chimpanzees and baboons are able
to drink filtrated water. As this behaviour has not been seen during the 1975-1994 surveys, we
think this is a recently appeared and (see figure 1) increased dryness adaptive behaviour.
Table I. Habitat and pathogenicity of the identified bacteria. After Euzéby (1998-2008),
Herrick (2004), LTSA Analyses, essais et inspections techniques. 2008.
Natural puddle water
Filtrated wells water
107/ml
106/ml
Concentration
Species
Escherichia
coli
Aeromonas hydrophila
Klebsiella
oxytoca
Enterobacter
cloacae
Habitat
Intestinal
bacterium of
the mammals.
Very common
in Man (80 %
of the natural
intestinal flora
of Man).
Omnipresent in the
environment in all the fresh,
muddy, and little saline
water.
Ubiquist in
surface
water.
Common
commensal
of the skin
and the
mucous
membranes
of mammals.
Naturally
present in
the faecal
flora of 30 %
of the
animals and
man.
Soil and water.
Can also be
found in plants
and in
mammal
faeces.
Pathogenicity
More than 5 %
of pathogenic
strains.
Traveller’s
diarrhoea.
Main germ of
urinary and
pulmonary
infections.
Determining
indicator of the
quality of
drinking water
on the
bacteriological
level.
Frogs red-leg disease.
Pneumonias, septicaemias,
abortions and wounds over
infections.
Horses’ diarrhoea.
Opportunist bacterium.
For man, causes many and
varied digestive and extradigestive pathologies,
cellulitis, diarrhoea,
gastroenteritis, in particular
in tropical countries,
septicaemia, colitis and
meningitis.
Untreated water
consumption increases the
risk of infection.
In domestic
animals,
sometimes
connected
with urinary
respiratory
and
reproductive
infections
Not seen as
toxinfections
agents and
no more
seen as
cause of
histaminic
intoxications.
Common
commensal of
the digestive
tract of
animals and
Man. As these
bacteria have
an important
resistance to
disinfecting
and antibiotics,
emergence of
nosocomial
infections in
hospitals has
been recently
noted.
Risk for Man
(European
Parliament
directive
2000/54/EC)
Low, but high
for several
strains.
Fixed maximum
concentration with 20
ufc/100 ml in drinking water
at the exit of the treatment
system and with 200
ufc/100 ml in the water
distribution network.
Low.
Low.
Risk for
animals
(Genetic
engineering
Commission)
Ea1.
None.
None.
Discussion
Some mammal species like warthogs and antelopes dig for water in the bottom of dried pools
as the water vanishes in the dry season. Large mammals and non human primates are able to
exhibit outstanding behaviors in order to get drink water: during the hot dry season, we saw
green monkeys prolong
their siesta up to 6 hours
in order to economize
energy and water and we
followed a green monkey
striding at a round pace
11 km only to reach
water and drink quickly
and then returning the 11
km back. Among other
water related behaviors,
we observed:
Lowe’s
guenon
drinking from freshwater
springs flowing into salt
water lagoons below sea
level (figure 5).
- Lowe’s guenons using
the fur of their forelegs
like sponges to dip in
deep tree holes in order
to get rain water (figure
6).
Figure 5. Lowe’s guenon drinking from a freshwater spring
flowing into a salt water lagoon below sea level.
Photo © Anh Galat-Luong IRD.
chimpanzees
and
baboons entering caves
at the hottest hours of
day, presumably in order
to shelter in shadow.
Caves are frequently
spots where surface
water
is
already
available
though
it
evaporated from the
sunny
places.
We
observed chimpanzees
sheltering in caves in the
Figure 6. Lowe’s guenon dipping its forelegs in a tree hole to
Niokolo Koba and in the
get rain water. Photo © Anh Galat-Luong IRD.
Comoe (Côte d’Ivoire)
National Parks, but were not able to check if there was water in the caves. We observed
baboons drinking water at the spring in caves in the Niokolo Koba National Park. We
observed baboons and warthogs drinking rain water deep in caves in the Arli National Park,
Burkina Faso (figure 7).
a
b
c
d
Figure 7. a, b, c: Baboons entering a cave in order to drink on underground water. d: The
ground water, deep in the cave. Photos © Anh Galat-Luong IRD.
Chimpanzees use leaves (often chewed) as sponges or like spoons to bring the water to mouth
(Whiten, A., Goodall, J., McGrew et al., 1999; Nishida et al., 1999a,b). The bonobos of
Lilungu and Wamba dig for earthworms and mushrooms, but not for water (Bermejo et al.,
1994; Kano, 1998).
Nishida et al. (1999a,b), observed Chimpanzees in at Mahale, Uganda, digging wet ground to
reach the water. Chimpanzees have been recorded to use tool to dig with wet ground of a dry
stream to obtain water. Only one juvenile female was seen to do this (Nishida, Kano, Goodall
et al. 1999a,b).
All these behaviours are absolutely different from the behaviour we describe here, as,
although water is still available, but as stagnant putrid water pools, chimpanzees and baboons
dig wells in the sand nearby the stagnant water pools and get clear, limpid, filtrated water
without excessive pathogenic germs, except, and at low tittle, for germs that probably come
from the primates themselves.
We analyzed data from other long term (up to 48 years) chimpanzees field study sites, with a
peculiar attention to sites where cultural behaviour has already been observed: - Guinea
(Bossou), 33 years of observation; - Côte d’Ivoire (Taï), 33 years; - Tanzania (Gombe,
Mahale), up to 48 years; - Uganda (Kibale, Budongo, Semliki-Toro) up to 21 years (Galat and
Galat-Luong, 1985; Whiten, Goodall, McGrew et al., 1999). Most of them are located in wet
climate where surface water never fails. Thus, digging wells in order to get water is not a
necessity and thus highly improbable.
Among the Chimpanzees populations studied on the long term in Africa, the main
characteristic of the Senegalese Chimpanzees population we studied is that it is the northern
most chimpanzee population (Galat, Galat-Luong, Ndiaye et al., 2000, 2002) and thus lives in
a very hot and dry habitat (McGrew, 1980). It is also the first one we recorded, in Mai 1995,
the hottest month of the year at the end of the dry season, to filtrate water.
After Assirick, Semliki-Toro is the second driest chimpanzee long term field study site.
Rainfall averages 1200 (FAO Aquastat, 2008) but years with less than 1000 mm occur (Hunt,
2000). The rainy season is from August to December, with short rains in March, April and
May. Semliki is hot and humid. The mean daily maximum was 34 oC. Only Mount Assirik is
hotter.
There, Hunt et al. (1999) observed in 1997 a female chimpanzee digging a hole in the sandy
riverbank near the Mugiri. This behaviour has then also been observed in other sites in
Uganda (Marchant, McGrew, and Hunt, 2007; Hunt and McGrew, 2002). Unlike Mahale
(Nishida et al., 1999), many of these wells were dug near identifiable water sources, often
quite close, suggesting that these wells may function to filter water (Hunt and McGrew,
2002).
Conclusion.
Digging wells in order to get filtrated water is a new Chimpanzee cultural behaviour 1. It
appeared recently and independently in different Chimpanzees populations, first in Senegal 1n
1995 during an increasing rainfall deficit, then in the second driest chimpanzee long term
field study site in Uganda in 1997, as an adaptation to face a long increase of dryness period.
1
For Chimpanzee cultural behaviour, see Whiten, Goodall, McGrew et al. 1999.
Acknowledgements.
Thanks to National Parks and Forestry Departments of Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina
Faso, and the related Administrations in charge of Nature protection and Wildlife research, to
our field assistants and to the local people we met.
Grants ORSTOM, now IRD, the French public science and technology research institute in
charge of research and overseas development, and DDR, the Senegalese Administration for
rural development.
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